Met Detective Warned Over Rape Case
5 August 2013, 11:53 | Updated: 5 August 2013, 11:55
A Met detective has kept his job after being found guilty of misconduct over a rape allegation made against child killer Jean Say.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission says Detective Sergeant David Blackbrow was given a written warning by Scotland Yard for failing to review written records relating to the case.
He was also accused of telling another officer that the allegations against Say did not constitute rape because the woman had consented, but the force's disciplinary panel was unable to make a finding on that claim.
Say killed his children Regina, eight, and Rolls, 10, in 2011 when they went to stay with him for a weekend.
A woman had made a rape allegation against him at Walworth police station in November 2008 but her claim was not recorded or investigated.
Scotland Yard gave Mr Blackbrow the warning for failing to review the paperwork, but could not make findings in relation to failing to record the rape allegation or the decision not to investigate.
Scotland Yard was directed to hold gross misconduct proceedings by the IPCC.
IPCC Deputy Chair Deborah Glass said: "Our investigation concluded that Detective Sergeant David Blackbrow's overarching failure to accept the victim's account as truthful led to a series of other failings to ensure that a serious allegation of rape was investigated.
"The victim clearly made an allegation of rape involving threats of violence. By advising the Sexual Offences Investigation Technique (SOIT) officer that this woman 'consented' and that the allegation did not constitute a rape, our investigation found that the officer failed to protect a vulnerable victim. He flouted a basic principle of sexual assault investigations: believing a victim in the first instance.
"The panel only found the case for misconduct proven in relation to his failure to review the SOIT's report.
"It is disappointing that it took the IPCC to direct the Metropolitan Police Service to hold this hearing but this case demonstrates that the IPCC is prepared to use its powers to ensure that officers are held to account when their conduct falls well below the standards expected of them."
Earlier this year the watchdog published its latest damning report on the work of sex crime unit Sapphire between July 2008 and September 2009, which found victims were pressured into giving retraction statements, meaning the alleged crime had not taken place and therefore detection figures were boosted.